Construction unit



Patented Apr. 19, 1932 UNITED STATES FREDERICK W. SHAW, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS CONSTRUCTION UNIT Application filed May 23,

My invention relates to construction units and more particularly it relates to tiles of concrete, burned clay, gypsum or other materials adapted'to be used in walls and as forms in pouring concrete floor beams or the like, the tiles when used as forms for floor beams being left in position after the concrete beams are poured and retained as a portion of a permanent floor structure to carry the floor load to the concrete beams.

As the art is at present practiced, hollow, open ended tiles having enclosed side walls are used, such tiles having webs extending therethrough which brace the outside walls,

the webs forming cells which produce a tile of lighter weight than if solid. The manufacture of tiles having a plurality of cells extending therethrough and bounded on all sides except at the ends is expensive, and one of the objects of the invention is the provision of blocks or tiles for the purpose described which may be easily and inexpensively manufactured.

Another object of the invention is the pro- 2 vision of improved light weight tile construction units which are capable of withstanding, without breakage, the shocks and jars incidental to handling and installation.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved tile which is lighter in weight than the sections now used and which therefore when used as forms in the construction of one and two way ribbed floors of reinforced concrete produce a floor the dead weight of which is less than could be obtained with the present tile sections.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a section which being closed on all sides makes it possible to accurately compute the quantities of concrete materials which go into the two way ribbed floor construction. As the art at the present time is practiced in two way ribbed floor construction tilesbeing used which are open at two ends the design of the floor must make certain assumptions as to the amount of concrete material which will flow into the open ends of the tiles when the concrete is poured and which affects the dead load weight for which the floor must be designed. The contractors estimator must 1929. Serial No. 365,372.

also make similar assumptions as to how much concrete will flow into the open ends of the tile and therefore, the contractors estimated costs for constructing the twoway ribbed floor of reinforced concrete are affected by these assumptions.

This new tile closed in all sides eliminates the assumptions which the designer must make as the dead load weight of the floor and the assumption which thecontractors estimator must make as to. the amount of concrete material which must be furnished to construct the floor, due to closing the ends of the tiie which as the art is at present practiced are open and therefore allow varying quantities of concrete material to enter the tile, which amount depends on the depth of the tile used and on the condition of the concrete mix, i. e., wet or dry.

A further object of the invention is the production of improved tiles which are easy to manufacture, durable, reliable and highly satisfactory for their intended purpose.

Many other obj ects'and advantages of the construction herein shown and described will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein given.

To this end my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings wherein like numerals indicate like or corresponding parts,

1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of two of the devices of my invention similar to the embodiment of Fig. 1, in which one side of the tile in each embodiment has been removed and one of the sections inverted and shown in position for insertion in the other;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the members shown in Fig. 2 with the upper member inserted in the lower; i

Fig. 4 is a section along the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section along the line 55 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectionthrough still another form of tiles in which my invention is embodied;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a section of a floor having two way beams as showing the position of the tile relative to the beams; and

Fig. 8 is a section of a floor having one way floor beams showing the relative position of my tiles installed therein.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates one form of tile in which my invention is embodied. The tile 10 has integrally formed bottom, top and side walls 11, 12 and 13, respectively, the ends of the tile being-open. The wall 12 is formed with kerfs 14 which permit the top portion 12 to be removed by breaking the tile along the kerfs. The tile 10 may be used as forms for floor beams either with or without the wall 12 removed. In the event the tile is used intact, as shown, the wall 12 is placed underneath and utilized as a ceiling for the rooms below. For suspended ceiling construction the wall section 12 may be removed. If wall 12 is removed it will reduce the dead weight of the floor construction which is desirable.

Removal of the kerfed portion 12 leaves open ended U-shaped tile sections, two of which, designated by numerals 10a, and 101), are shown in Fig. 2 in perspective. The tiles 10a and 106 are of such longitudinal and transverse dimensions that by inverting one and positioning it in the other, in the relative positions shown in perspective in Fig. 2, a closed six-sided box section is formed.

The tile 10 is provided in the first place with the kerfed portion 12 in order that it may be transported and handled without such danger of breakage as would otherwise be the case with tiles of U-shaped section having the dimensions and thickness of material shown. If it is to be. used in one way floor construction with its face marked 12 forming the ceiling of the room below, the tile 10 would be left intact. If it is to be used for two way construction the portion 12 will be removed. If it is used for one wayconstruction with suspended ceiling, the portion 12 may be removed. The thickness of the walls of the tile 10 relative to its over all dimensions is slight and is conducive to lightness of weight and economy of material. The economy of material exists even though the section 12, which is removed inrthe field, is wasted or not utilized for any purpose, since the total weight of the tile including the wall 12 is low as compared with the weight of other tiles having the same over all dimen- SlOIlS.

The two tile sections 10a and 10?), which are two sections 10 with the wall 12 removed,

are assembled to form an enclosed box like structure, as shown in plan inFig. 3. The sections 10a and 10?) form such a closed box like structure by making the length of 10a equal to the inside width of 1072, the length of 10?) equal to the outside width of 10a and the inside depth of 106 equal to the outside depth of 10a.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view along the line 44 of Fig. 3 showing the relative arrangement of the tiles 10a and 10b. The tile 10a is so constructed that the edges of its side wall 13 rest upon the wall 11 of the section 106. The ends of the section 10a fit the inner face of the side walls 13 of the section 103), as shown in Fig. 5. A plurality of tiles 10a and 10b, assembled in pairs as indicated in Fig. 3, are arranged as shown in Fig. 7, in which position they provide forms for what is known as two way floor construction. Each of the tiles thus assembled have two opposedlateral faces forming side Walls of forms for pouring longitudinal beams 24 and the other two lateral edges forming side walls for forms for pouring cross beams 23.

The beams 23 and 24 are to be poured after the tiles are positioned on the forms The tiles are supported by planking not shown, and if desired, a tile sofiit slab, not shown, may be laid between the tiles to form the bottom of the concrete beams.

In the one way construction, shown in Fig. 8, the tiles 10 are used either with or without the portion 12 removed and are preferably placed in staggered relation on either side of the spaces in which floor beams 15 are to be poured. In the one way construction it is obvious that the abutting ends of the'tiles need not be closed and there is no necessity for arranging the tiles in pairs as is done with the two way construction to prevent concrete flowing into the tile.

In Fig. 6 is shown another type of tile, generally designated by the numeral 20, which is also adapted for use in either one or two way floor construction. The tiles 2O differ from tiles 10 in that they are provided with a plurality of webs 21 and have no cover portion to be removed in the field similar to the wall 12 of the tile 10. The webs 21 have kerfs 22 which enable the webs to be removed in the field, if desired, and the inverted tile section 20 to be removed from its nested position of Fig. 6, and turned at an angle of ninety degrees so as to form a closed boX similar to the box formed by the tiles 10a and 10?) as shown in Fig. 3. The tiles 20 may be used intact in one way floor construction in connection with suspended ceilings and when thus used are especially economical of material.

In all forms of the tile shown, the floor is constructed by first positioning planks having sufiicient thickness and so supported as to carry the weight of the floor. In the one way floor construction of Fig. 8 the units, made up of tiles 10 either with or without the section 12 removed, are positioned in rows with ends in contact and with open spaces between the rows in which the concrete is poured to form the floor beams 15. The transverse dimensions of the tile thereby determine the spacing of the floor beams 15 and the number of tiles 10 placed in each longitudinal row determines the length of the beam. It is obvious that the tiles 10 are adapted as forms 7 for floors having any practicable spacing of (ill the beams 15 by merely varying the sizes of the tile. In the construction shown in Fig. 6 the tiles are also adapted for two way floor construction, by removing the webs 21, the sections then being positioned similarly to 10a and 10b of Fig. 2.

It will be obvious that in all of the forms shown, tiles can be used having much less material than the usual construction wherein the tiles are laid in position just as they come from the factory. Thus, it will be seen that I have provided tiles adapted to be constructed with relatively thin walls and having members capable of being discarded when the tiles are in the field, the tiles after having such members discarded being arranged in pairs to form individual units.

While I have described the units as constructed of tile, they may be constructed of other plastic material, such as concrete gypsum or the like and it is not my intention to limit the application of my invention to an embodiment of any particular materialof construction.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that various immaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing from the spirit of my invention; hence, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts herein shown and described, or uses mentioned.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A construction unit comprising two U- shaped sections forming a hollow prism, the length, the inside width and the inside depth of one section being respectively equal to the outside width, the length and the outside depth of the other of said sections.

2. 'A construction unit comprising two U- shaped sections, one of said sections having a plurality of longitudinally extending webs, and the other of said sections being adapted to form a cover for the first mentioned section, said sections when assembled forming a closed six sided hollow prism with a plurallty of partitions therethrough.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day of May, A. D. 1929.

FREDERICK W. SHAW. 

